In most cases, you can install a plugin directly from your WordPress dashboard by going to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin. However, sometimes this isn’t possible — for example, if your server’s upload limit is too low, the dashboard uploader keeps failing, or your site is experiencing an error that prevents you from accessing the admin area.

In these situations, you can install the plugin manually via FTP (File Transfer Protocol). This guide walks you through the process step by step. If you’d prefer not to use FTP, you can also do this through your hosting control panel’s file manager — see the alternative method at the end of this guide.

First: check if an upload limit is causing the problem

Before installing via FTP, it’s worth checking whether the dashboard upload is simply failing because of your server’s upload size limit. Every server has a maximum file size it will accept for uploads (set by the PHP upload_max_filesize and post_max_size values), and on some hosts this is set as low as 2MB — smaller than many plugin ZIP files. If the plugin ZIP is larger than the limit, the upload will fail.

Common signs that the upload limit is the issue include:

• An error saying “The uploaded file exceeds the upload_max_filesize directive in php.ini”.
• A “413 Request Entity Too Large” error page.
• The upload progress bar getting stuck, timing out, or the page reloading with no plugin installed.

To check your current limit, go to Media → Add New Media File in your WordPress dashboard — the “Maximum upload file size” is shown below the uploader. If it’s smaller than the plugin ZIP, try one of the following fixes:

1. Increase the limit in your hosting control panel (easiest). Most hosts let you change PHP settings directly: in cPanel, go to MultiPHP INI Editor, select your site, and increase upload_max_filesize and post_max_size (e.g. to 64M). In Plesk, go to your domain’s PHP Settings. Other panels usually have a similar “PHP configuration” or “PHP options” page.
2. Add the values to your .htaccess file (Apache/LiteSpeed servers only). Add the following lines to the .htaccess file in your WordPress root directory:

php_value upload_max_filesize 64M
php_value post_max_size 64M

3. Ask your hosting provider. If you can’t change the settings yourself (common on managed hosting), contact your host’s support and ask them to raise upload_max_filesize and post_max_size for your site — this usually takes them a couple of minutes.

After making a change, reload the Media → Add New Media File page to confirm the new limit, then try uploading the plugin again via Plugins → Add New Plugin → Upload Plugin. If it works, you’re done — no FTP needed!

If you can’t increase the limit, or the upload still fails for another reason (or you can’t access your dashboard at all), continue with the FTP method below.

What you’ll need

• The plugin ZIP file — for example, the Coupon Affiliates PRO ZIP downloaded from your Freemius account or your purchase confirmation email.
• An FTP client — we recommend FileZilla (free, available for Windows, Mac, and Linux).
• Your FTP credentials — the hostname, username, password, and port for your server. You can usually find these in your hosting control panel (cPanel, Plesk, etc.), or by asking your hosting provider. Many hosts also support SFTP, which is more secure and works the same way in FileZilla.

Step 1: Extract the plugin ZIP file

Unlike the dashboard uploader, FTP requires the plugin to be unzipped first.

1. Locate the plugin ZIP file on your computer (e.g. coupon-affiliates-pro.zip).
2. Right-click the file and choose Extract All (Windows) or double-click it (Mac).
3. You should now have a folder with the plugin’s name (e.g. coupon-affiliates-pro) containing the plugin files.

Tip: Open the extracted folder and check that the plugin files (such as the main .php file) are directly inside it — not nested inside a second folder. If you see a folder within a folder, use the inner one when uploading.

Step 2: Connect to your website via FTP

1. Open FileZilla (or your preferred FTP client).
2. Enter your Host, Username, Password, and Port at the top, then click Quickconnect. For standard FTP, the port is usually 21. For SFTP, it’s usually 22.
3. Once connected, you’ll see your local computer’s files on the left and your website’s server files on the right.

If the connection fails, double-check your credentials with your hosting provider — some hosts require SFTP only, or use a non-standard port.

Step 3: Navigate to the plugins directory

On the server side (right panel), navigate to your WordPress plugins folder:

/wp-content/plugins/

Depending on your host, your WordPress installation may be inside a directory such as public_html, www, or htdocs — so the full path might look like:

/public_html/wp-content/plugins/

You’ll know you’re in the right place when you can see folders for your existing plugins.

Step 4: Upload the plugin folder

1. On the local side (left panel), navigate to where you extracted the plugin folder in Step 1.
2. Drag the entire plugin folder (e.g. coupon-affiliates-pro) from the left panel into the /wp-content/plugins/ directory on the right panel.
3. Wait for the transfer to complete. Plugins contain many small files, so this can take a few minutes — check the transfer queue at the bottom of FileZilla to confirm there are no failed transfers.

Updating an existing plugin? If a folder with the same name already exists on the server, you can safely overwrite it. When prompted, choose Overwrite and apply it to all files. Your plugin settings are stored in the database, so they won’t be lost.

Step 5: Activate the plugin in WordPress

1. Log in to your WordPress dashboard.
2. Go to Plugins → Installed Plugins.
3. Find the plugin you just uploaded in the list.
4. Click Activate.

That’s it — the plugin is now installed and active on your site.

Alternative: Using your hosting control panel’s file manager

If you don’t have FTP access or would rather not install an FTP client, most hosting control panels include a built-in file manager that can do the same job — and it’s often quicker, because you can upload the ZIP file directly and extract it on the server (no need to unzip it on your computer first).

The exact steps vary slightly between hosts, but the general process is the same:

1. Log in to your hosting control panel and open the file manager. In cPanel this is called File Manager; in Plesk it’s Files. Managed WordPress hosts and other panels (hPanel, SiteGround Site Tools, Cloudways, etc.) usually have an equivalent under a similar name.
2. Navigate to your WordPress plugins directory: /wp-content/plugins/. As with FTP, your WordPress installation may sit inside a folder such as public_html, www, or htdocs.
3. Click Upload and select the plugin ZIP file (e.g. coupon-affiliates-pro.zip) — no need to extract it first.
4. Once uploaded, right-click the ZIP file and choose Extract (or select the file and use the Extract button in the toolbar). Extract it into the current directory, so the plugin folder ends up directly inside /wp-content/plugins/.
5. Confirm the extracted folder contains the plugin files directly (e.g. /wp-content/plugins/coupon-affiliates-pro/), then delete the ZIP file from the server to keep things tidy.
6. Log in to your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins → Installed Plugins, and click Activate on the plugin.

Tip: If the extraction creates a nested folder (a folder inside a folder), move the inner folder up so the plugin files sit directly inside its own folder within /wp-content/plugins/, and remove the empty outer folder.

Troubleshooting

The plugin doesn’t appear on the Plugins page
Check that you uploaded the plugin folder itself (containing the plugin files), not a folder nested inside another folder, and that it’s located directly inside /wp-content/plugins/.

“The plugin does not have a valid header” error
This usually means the folder structure is wrong — the plugin’s main .php file must be in the top level of the uploaded folder. Delete the uploaded folder from the server, re-extract the ZIP, and upload again.

Some files failed to transfer
In FileZilla, check the Failed transfers tab at the bottom. Right-click the failed items and choose Reset and requeue all, then process the queue again. Incomplete uploads can cause fatal errors.

Site showing an error after upload
If the site breaks after uploading, you can deactivate the plugin via FTP by renaming its folder (e.g. coupon-affiliates-pro → coupon-affiliates-pro-off). This immediately deactivates it, allowing you to access your dashboard again.

If you run into any issues installing the plugin, feel free to contact our support team and we’ll be happy to help.